sat morn in Bolga

Sitting in bed, at home in Estate, Bolgatanga, Saturday morning with a touch of a hangover after 3 smirnoff ices last night. Was farmers day yesterday, a public holiday, so was out celebrating with a few other volunteers in town. Ended up in Celebrity nightclub, where the dudes are pretty bling & and the tunes are mostly R&B which has taken a while but im starting to get down to it! Cycled home a bit earlier than the others, about 2 via the fountain gate church. It’s an enormous house of prayer just up the road. So its 2 in the morning & there’s some serious noise coming from there which was a bit disheartening cause i figured this is another 1 of these all nighters which has kept me awake a couple of nights recently. Popped in for a look, cause im not going to sleep to this anyway & the pastor guy is seriously shouting into a megaphone & everyones shouting back and pacing up & down, busy fighting satan. Was asking some of the guys at work why the megaphone is necessary & apparently its more effective in driving out satan (who unfortunately is very busy in December so will be hearing from him again soon). Its officially illegal (that kinda noise at nite) but, people wont complain on their neighbours, so, like everything else, they tell me i will get used to it.

Just had my first visitor of the day, a young boy called Maxwell. He’s the son of a localish chief & he helped me get my bike fixed a couple of weeks ago. So he pops in every now & again to say hello. Last time he was her i noticed he had these horrible open sores on his legs with flies in them so i dressed them & cleaned them up & theyre looking much better today which is nice. My other neighbourhood friend in Alhaj Talhero sadhu, but i just call him Alhaj (which means he’s been on the Haj). He’s the deputy imam for the north east region, which is a big enough deal. He invited us to his place a couple of weeks ago & couldn’t belive how people bow down to this guy! Met his son along the way & he bows down & stays there while he is talking to him (dad would be impressed!). same with the local muslims we meet & his wife and all!! So i don’t bow but slightly tilt my head when i shake his hand & thats enough! He doesn’t seem to mind. Last Friday was sallah, muslim new year & he invited me over for the sacrifice of 2 rams & a cow (in memory of Abraham & his son/ ram sacrifice). Was pretty rough (you wouldn’t have liked it mikie), especially the cow. After its throat was cut it took about a minute to die. They were very generous though, & i went home with a liver (cow), a lung (ram), a heart(ram) & some other nice bits of cow. Fried it all up with a little soy sauce & rice & was good, but ate with a touch of conscience (again sorry mic).

There are animals everywhere. I share my house (big 4 bed, ensuite, running water, hot water!, a/c.....) with a big tall Ugandan volunteer called Richard, who is nice but completely useless around the house. He has never had to do any domestic stuff before & finds the idea of a man in the kitchen very funny. I’ve taught him a couple of things but he’s very slowly slowly. So, back to the animals. I share my house with an expanding family of geckos. THeyre grand cause they make themselves invisible when i’m here. Thye’ve all got their own little houses. Theres 1 behind my calendar, 1 behind the electricity box & few in the hall & 2 babies in the bathroom. The babies keep falling into the bath & i have to help them get out. They’re kindof like pets now. They eat flies & things which is good, but they do poo etc which isn’t great. There are crickets i think in the skirting, who like clockwork start up at 5:45 in the evening when it gets dark. There are vampire bats in the roof who scamper around at night & can be pretty loud. Im trying to get them eliminated. Theres ants wherever there is food, who bite so everything has to be kept pretty clean. But no mosquitos! Inside anyways cause it the dry season so thats great. Outside, I have 3 chickens! Hughie you would be proud! I have 1 egg, that Baba, the night watchman wont let me cook for some reason. No cock adoodle doo though, i had to get rid of him. And loads of lizards. Then, immediately outside the gate is a big dirty family of pigs who hang around in the drain & of course goats, chickens & guinea fowl everywhere. Its nice cause it gives the place a country feel, but they all can be big pests on the road. Richard saw a bus run down a donkey and overturned the other day. So, bela ghanas prob not the best country to take on a big motor cycle trip anyways. I know all developing countries are bad but i think i heard somewhere that Ghana is the second worst in the world!!!?????? I avoid at all times travelling anywhere at night.

Just started “work” this week. Im working in tongo, a 25 minute moto ride from here. Its a beautiful hilly rural area with great big stones dotted around the place. Its in the Talensi nabdam district, which is 1 of the poorest in the country. Visited my first school on Thursday & wasn’t expecting much, but was still gutted by the state of the place. There was great big holes in the concrete floor, broken tables, filthy walls, not 1 picture in the place. The teachers(that i’ve met) all seem pretty young, unmotivated & unqualified. Some have 60 odd kids in a class & use the stick to keep manners on them. So plenty to work with there! But ive just started so just having a look around & getting to know my colleagues – theres 50 odd at the local office! A lotta beurocracy! But they are a friendly bunch. Alice (sports officer) invited me to a church do today & Duncan (asst director) has invited me to go sight seeing & the accountant keeps ringing me as well. Bit wary of the men & what exactly their intentions are. Generally, men you meet anywhere will ask for your contact (mob no) & then ring you 10 times a day until they get the message. Or alternatively you don’t give them your number & they get a bit pissed off. But at work i kinda have to give my contact but figured we’re all professionals here but now im not so sure.....We’ll see.
So Christmas is coming & people are giving out that things are getting more expensive in the market & people keep telling to watch out for thievgs in December. Saw a crib in the church the other day , which was nice. But apart from that its not xmassey at all. Havnt heard a jingle bells yet. Looking forward to doing a bit of touring round the country when big sis gets here. Got lots of places to go – small villages where other vols are staying & national parks & chiefs to pop in on so will be nice
Going out now to catch a local band playing in the lorry park??? & maybe send a couple of crimbo cards and take it easy.......